Dead By Daylight: The Mastermind Guide

It is impossible to deny that this was a great year for Dead By Daylight. Although its number of players has been decreasing throughout 2021, in 2022 it came back as one of the most relevant games of the year. Although this has to do with the general changes in the game, its events, and its new perks, there was undoubtedly another factor that helped to balance the scales: its new killers. But although The Onryo and The Dredge were very well received by the community, none of these events generated as much expectation as Project: W, the new collaboration between Dead By Daylight and Resident Evil.

In addition to bringing Rebecca Chambers and Ada Wong as new survivors, Project: W also introduces The Mastermind as its new killer. Wesker is a killer who proved to be really strong. This killer can cover the map in a very short time and with his power, he can finish any chase in moments. His only downside may be that he is a bit complicated to use, but after seeing this guide, that won’t be a problem anymore.

The Mastermind’s power: Virulent Bound

Virulent Bound is what makes Wesker as fun as he is. This power allows the killer to use up to two dashes. After the first one, Wesker can rearrange himself to cast the second one or pause the power so that it has less cooldown. If The Mastermind dashes into a survivor, he will throw him forward. If the survivor collides with an object, it will lose a life state, but if it collides with another survivor, both will.

Each dash also increases the degree of infection of each survivor. If the survivor is fully infected and The Mastermind dashes into him, it will not throw him and will grab him directly. Survivors can be cured of the infection by using first aid kits scattered around the map, basically in a very similar way to The Nemesis.

How to use Virulent Bound

The key to using Wesker correctly is to abuse his power as much as possible. His cooldown is very short and the dash range is very long, so almost every time we grab a survivor, one way or another we will make him hit something. In itself, Wesker has the widest terror radius of the entire game, which will scare survivors away from the generators. Although if you use your power, they will never be able to escape in time.

In addition to this, Wesker can use his power to get close to the survivors without grabbing them. For this, you must use your two dashes as fast as you can and then hunt the survivors on foot. If you don’t make it in time, in a few seconds you will have your power back. Remember that you can also use Virulent Bound to pass through pallets or vaults at high speed. Although this is not always the best tool, you can overcome the most difficult pallets in the game without losing sight of the survivor.

Best builds for The Mastermind

Best Build

The best perks for The Mastermind are Barbecue and Chili, Lethal Pursuer, Dead Man Switch, and Save the Best for Last.

Via: Fandom

The Mastermind has quite interesting interactions with many perks, and can certainly take advantage of many of them to be as oppressive as possible. With Lethal Pursuer and Barbecue and Chili, Wester can know where the survivors are throughout the game. Aura reading is very important for this killer because if he knows where the survivors are, he can abuse his enormous terror radius to pressure the survivors away from the generators.

By constantly pushing them away from the generators, Dead Man’s Switch will become a perk that will slow down the game a lot, so the survivors will have to risk not letting go of the generator and take a lot of damage in punishment. When in a chase, Save the Best for Last will be of great help. Since you can do damage with Virulent Bound, you don’t need your M1 to damage survivors. Try to use your power to hurt survivors, but if you have to use your M1, do so and you will get tokens from this perk. If you encounter the obsession, simply attack it with your skill and you will still be able to save your tokens without having to let the obsession escape.

Free Build

The best free perks for The Mastermind are Bitter Murmur, Spies From the Shadows, Jolt, and Iron Grasp.

Via: Fandom

Like Lethal Pursuer and Barbecue and Chili, Bitter Murmur is a great help to The Mastermind as it allows him to know the location of the survivors at almost all times. Although it is a very underestimated perk, Spies From the Shadows can be of great help to Wesker, since in maps with many walls it can be difficult to calculate where to throw your power in the middle of a chase. With this perk, you can see where the survivors are heading and thus, be able to anticipate them.

Since its rework, Jolt is an excellent perk and is recommended in all free builds. Its ability to damage and slow down the game is impressive and added to Wesker’s huge terror radius, survivors will get even more nervous and fail the most difficult skill checks. On the other hand, when The Mastermind catches a survivor with his power and charges him, he may realize that he is in the middle of nowhere with no hook nearby. No perk will prevent this from happening, but Iron Grasp will still help you get to a hook without the survivor escaping.

Troll Build (Hex Inferno)

Hex: Devour Hope, Hex: Undying, Hex: Haunted Ground, and Hex: No One Escapes Death

Via: Fandom

Hex builds are particularly good with The Mastermind, as he can take care of totems very easily and be as oppressive as he wants. The main perk of this build is Devour Hope, and all other perks except NOED will revolve around it. The idea behind Devour Hope is that Wesker has enormous speed, so by hanging a survivor he can quickly get away from the hook and activate this perk. Once you have 3 stacks, you can hide your power for an extra time by attacking only with Virulent Bound, so you can surprise the survivors with a sudden Mori. If the survivors find the perk, Undying will save it.

Although its effect is very useful, the idea of Haunted Ground is to defend Devour Hope. When the survivors find a lit totem, they will immediately clean it. When they discover that Haunted Ground is in play, upon seeing another totem they will surely ignore it without knowing that it could be Devour Hope or Undying. If all else fails and the survivors are about to escape, No One Escapes Death will give you one last chance to save the game.

Best add-ons:

Via: Fandom

Helicopter Stick
When the survivors are infected by the virus, they will immediately want to heal themselves. When they do, this perk will reveal where they are.

Bullhorn
Combined with Helicopter Stick, this add-on is really very oppressive. When the survivors heal, not only will you know where they are, but they won’t hear you coming.

This was our guide to The Mastermind! What build do you plan to use? Tell us in the comments!